I have to be honest, that confused me more than anything. I've been in a discussion with my girlfriend (yes my girlfriend takes an interest in games) and she seems to think cancelling would mean a bounce cancel thing? Is that wrong or what?
And I watched that youtube video of some guy in this thread just now pulling of a pretty nasty shazam combo and I noticed after atlas' torpedo he grabbed then threw him at the end, how does one do that as I can never pull that off?
Would anyone be willing to add me and show me the ropes? I'd be greatly appreciative, cause at the moment I can't seem to hit any decent combo's. can only manage a few of the weaker ones. And I don't know what it is that's holding me back. Well I do it's timing/incorrect cancelling cause I don't even know what it is. But no matter what I try my timing always seems to be wrong.
But yeah I'd appreciate it if someone would be willing to help me out.
Maybe I can break it down a bit for you. This is a somewhat simplified breakdown on frame data and cancelling.
Each move has 3 major phases in the animation. Usually these are measured terms of 'frames' of animation. There are 60 frames in a second. Don't get too bogged down in the specific data right now but just know that they are measured in tiny fractions of seconds.
The first is the startup, which is how long it takes (in frames) between you pressing the button and the move actually being able to hit. A good example of long startup is Shazam's Bolt of Zeus special. The time it takes for the lightning to come down from the sky to Shazam's hand and the swinging motion as he throws it is the startup.
The second phase is active frames. These are the frames of the attack animation that actually connect with the opponent. A good example is any characters b+3 attack. You can charge up the startup frames for a while, but when you release and the punch (or whatever) actually comes out, those are the active frames that can hit.
The third phase is the recovery. Recovery is how long it takes after performing an attack before you can perform another action. A good way to see this is with a d+2 attack. After the character does the uppercut move, there's a pause before you can walk sideways again. Those are the recovery frames.
The concept of cancelling is to perform a new input during the recovery frames of a move so that the character ignores the rest of the recovery animation and performs the new move instead. There are restrictions on what moves can cancel out of what (and they vary hugely in other games that support cancelling, like Street Fighter). Typically, you can only cancel normal attacks (regular punch buttons) with special moves. Not all normal attacks can always be cancelled, and not all special moves are always appropriate to cancel into. In some games like Street Fighter you can further cancel from a special move to a super move but I don't think that applies in this (though I haven't tested specifically).
A good sample of performing a cancel is to use Shazam's 22 string and cancel into Herculean Might. The 22 string causes Shazam to do a knee followed by a spinning kick that sends the opponent flying. If you perform the input for HM during the 22 string's animation, Shazam will cancel the recovery of the spinning kick with HM, dashing forward and plucking the opponent out of the air and slamming them. You may find this a hard input right now starting out but it's an important one for Shazam and one to practice for sure. I think it's a good example because the difference in Shazam's animation between how far the opponent flies from the kick versus how quickly he cancels to the grab before the fly away.
Perhaps an easy to perform example is this combo: 112 Atlas Torpedo. Put in the inputs quickly one after the other. Shazam will do 112, punching them away, then Torpedo over and hit them coming down.
This also leads to answering your other question about grabbing after torpedo. What you are seeing is a Meter Burn attack (sometimes called EX after the equivalent Street Fighter term where it originated). In this game, to do a Meter Burn attack, you have to press the Meter Burn button (default RT or R2, I think) during the animation of a special move. It varies from move to move. With the lightning throw, you need to press it during the startup, and a bigger bolt will come down from the sky. With the grabs you have to press it while Shazam is lifting them and he will do an extra bounce so you can follow up with more hits. With torpedo, you press it during the animation and Shazam will throw them to the ground instead of just hitting them.
Edit to add: You can typically only cancel out of an attack if it hits or is blocked. You can't cancel by whiffing punches in the air (in most cases). Shazam's 22 Herculean Might string is a good sample of this as well. If the kicks hit, the HM will cancel and grab the opponent. If the opponent blocks the kicks, the HM still comes out and hits if the opponent is standing. If you whiff the kicks in the air, HM will never come out.
